Kathy Shorr’s splashy portraits inside limousines

Back in the 1980s, photographer Kathy Shorr remembers her native Brooklyn as a bastion of working class neighbourhoods, each with its own distinctive character and local culture. ​“It was gritty too, but this contributed to its charm,” she says. 

As a young girl growing up in a multigenerational home in Bushwick, Shorr marvelled at her grandmother’s moxie as the only person in the family to own and drive a car. She hopped in the two-tone Chevy for a spin around town, understanding the value of wheels the way only a true ​“bridge and tunnel” child can. 

At 16, Shorr bought a used Buick Skylark, but it wasn’t until she received her BFA from the School of Visual Arts that she decided to combine her lifelong love of cars with her photography training. At first she thought about driving a taxi, but the job was too harried and frenetic for what she wanted to create: a photography studio on wheels cruising the streets of New York.

Then it hit her: why not a limousine chauffeur? In 1988, Shorr got a job with Crystal Limousine Company in Red Hook and instantly cut a distinctive silhouette. At the time, she remembers, ​“Many limousine drivers were men, so I was a novelty. People were surprised to see me as their driver, but no one ever questioned my competency.” 

Over the next nine months, Shorr ferried families and friends around town, offering them a slice of life popularised by TV shows like Dynasty, Dallas, and The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Between the car phone, sun roof, leather interior, and well stocked mini-fridge, the passengers luxuriated in the rarified trappings of wealth on what promised to be one of the greatest days of their lives. 

Shorr played her part to perfection, adding what was most assuredly a female touch as she ferried wedding, quinceañera, and prom parties around town, deftly popping the question after they had plenty of time to relax and get in the mood. When asked for a photograph, almost everyone said yes. Now she celebrates this unforgettable era with Limousine (Lazy Dog Press), intimate and intoxicating portraits made over a period of nine months. 

“Limousines gave working class people the opportunity to be rich for the day,” Shorr says. ​“Almost every time I stopped the car to let passengers out, neighbourhood children and adults would come over and start talking to me as they peered through the windows.” Some spectators got lucky, like the young couple and little boy who spotted Shorr parked on Ocean Parkway and asked if they could go inside the limo for a minute. It was a moment that demanded a portrait, even though they had not hired the car. 

Limousine is a toast to Brooklyn’s working class communities by one of its own, Shorr’s photographs helping to make their ​“caviar wishes and champagne dreams” come true.

Limousine by Kathy Shorr is published by Lazy Dog Press.

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